Picking mechanism for blank-folding machines.



J. TEMPLE. PIOKING MECHANISM FOR BLANK FOLDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 1912.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

n 1 HI IHHI UH HHH I vu THE NORRIS PETERS CO" PHOTC-LITHO.. WASHINGTON, D C.

J. TEMPLE.

PICKING MECHANISM FOR BLANK FOLDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 191 2.

LAW 2 III I P. liilil- .iliPl A rll l. .7//////////rf 411C NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTO-LITHQ, WASHINGTON, D. Q

engaged from the picker. removal of the folded blank JOHN TEMPLE, OF WATERVLIET, NEW YORK,

ASSIGNOR T0 EARL & WILSON, 0F TROY,

NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PICKIN'G MECHANISM. FOR BLANK-FOLDING MACHINES.

- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

Application filed June 27, 1912. Serial No. 706,177.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JoHN TEMPLE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Watervliet, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Picking Mechanism for chines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In the operation of machines commonly in use for folding the edges of blanks for making collars, cuffs, shirtbosoms, neckbands, wristbands, and like articles, the blank to be folded is placed in proper position on a suitable bed, afterfwhich a collapsible fold-defining die or templet is seated on the blank. The folding blades next fold the blank-edges over the templet edges and the folded edges are then pressed to give them a sharp and permanent crease. The presser and the collapsed or contracted templet are now raised, exposing the folded blank so that it can be removed and a fresh blank substituted. This removal of the folded blank from the bed can be effected byhand, but this method is apt to delay the operation of the machine, or,.if the workman hurries in order to keep up with the machine, he is more apt to position the blank improperly. I have accordingly been led to devise my present invention, with the object of providing improved and thoroughly reliable picking devices, for picking the folded blank off the bed along with the presser and templet, so that the fresh or unfolded blank can be immediately placed on the bed and the folded blank then dis- Inasmuch as the from the picker requires but an instant the operator has plenty of time in which to place the unfolded blank in accurate positionon the bed.

A further object of the invention is to provide picking mechanism of simple character, automatic in operation and adaptable to existing machines without material alteration or modification of the latter.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features of construction and combinations of elements hereinafter described, and more particularly set forth in the app nded claims.

Blank-Folding Ma- A convenient and effective embodiment of the invention, applied to a folding machine of the type described in the prior .patent of Joseph H'Ramsey, and myself, N 0. 1,043,722, issued November 5, 1912, is shown in the accompanying drawings, illustrating, of course, only such parts of, said machine as are more directly asso ciated with the picking mechanism.

It is to be understood, too, thatthe'invention is by no means limited to use with the particular machine referred to.

In the drawings, Figure l is a sectional view of a part of the ing the bed upon which the blank to be folded is laid, the folding blades, a blank with its edges partly folded, and the presser; with my improved lifting the folded blank off the bed. Fig. 2 is a front'view, partly in section, of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a detail view of parts illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 but showing the picking mechanism in a later stage of its operation.

nism in a still later stage of its operation. Fig. 5 is a sectional plan view to show the relation of the picking mechanism to the folding blades. Fig; 6 is a section substan-, tially on line 6-6 of Fig. 5. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are detail views of the picking mechanism, on a larger scale, Figs. 7 and 9 showing different stages of the operation and Fig.

8 being a section on line 88 of Fig. 7. In

of a pair of arms, one being shown at 15,.

which are mounted on a shaft 16 at the back of the machine. By means of a rocker arm 17 and a link 18, connected with suitable actuating mechanism can be swung on the axis of the shaft 16.

thereby raising and lowering the head 12,-

and p ts carried thereby, with respect to Harley M. Olearwater folding machine, show picking mechanism for Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 3, but showing the picking mechanot shown, the arms 15 the bed 10. The folder blades 19, 20, are mounted on carriers 21, 22, respectively. The carrier 21 is movable toward and from the templet to fold the front edge of the blank, and the carrier 22 is mounted to slide in a direction transversely of the machine in a block 23 which is itself movable longitudinally of the machine, that is, forwardly and backwardly, toward and from the templet. The folder 20 thus may have two movements, one longitudinal and one transverse to the machine, or the two may be combined in a resultant diagonal or inclined movement at any stage. The templet 13 is expansible and collapsible, being for that purpose made in sections actuated by suitable mecha nism not shown. When expanded, the templet has the size and contour of the finished blank. The presser 14: is suspended from the head 12 by means of sliding stems 2-1, and is normally held in raised position, spaced from the blank, by coil springs 25 encircling the stems.

The head 12 being raised and the folders retracted to their outermost positions, the blank to be folded is laid on the bed and positioned centrally over the space bounded by the inner edges of the folders. The head is now lowered, seating the expanded templet on the blank, depressing the central portion of the latter as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The pickers are two in number in the pres ent embodiment, and a description of one will suffice for both. Referring to Figs. 1,

' 5 and 6, it will be seen that the outwardly extending flange 1 1 of the presser 14 is provided at one end with a vertical tubular guide 26, in which is a slidable stem 2? urged downwardly by a coil spring .28

' housed within the guide and encircling the stem. At its lower end the stem carries a cross piece or horizontal arm 29 provided at its forward end with a downwardly and inwardly extending finger 30 and at itsrear end with a depending lug 31, the finger 30 extending into and being guided by a vertical slot 32 in the presser 1 1. On the inside of the presser (which, it may be stated, has in plan the contour of the folded blank) this slot is widened into a groove to receive a vertically movable slide 33, retained in said groove by a cover plate 34. At the top this slide has an outwardly turned lug 35 to limit the downward movement of the slide, and at the bottom it has a flat, outwardly turned foot 36, underlying the finger 30. Immediately above this foot the presser has a shallow groove 37 to receive the foot 36 when the presser is seated on the folded blank, and the templet 13 has, at the proper point a deep notch or recess 38 to receive the foot, so that the foot is in efiect a part of the templet, as will be more clearly under stood hereafter-I Normally the stem is maintained in its lowermost position by gravity, with the foot 36 filling the recess 38, the end of the foot filling out, as it were, the edge of the templet across the recess. As the templet is lowered, the lug 31 on the arm 29 strikes the folder 20 and is thereby arrested; but the templet and presser, and with them the slide 33 and foot 36, continue to move until seated on the blank, thus leaving a space between the finger 30 and the foot 36, as shown in Fig. 2. The folders now move in, turning the blankedges inwardly over the templet edges, and, of course, over the edges of the feet 36 also. The bed 10 having been depressed slightly, the folders now begin to move out and the templet to collapse or contract, away from the blank-edges but leaving the picker feet 36 under the blank-edges, as shown in Fig. 3. The levers 39 also move inwardly, bringing the inclined under surface of the hooks 10 into engagement with the correspondingly inclined upper surfaces of the lugs 41, connected with the presser, with the result that the latter is cammed down against the tension of the springs 25; the operations described being so timed that the presser is seated on the folded edges of the blank just as they are cleared by the templet and folders. The bed 10 is now raised by the actuating toggles 11, pressing the blank firmly against the presser and giving the blankedg-es a sharp crease, after which the levers 39 are disengaged from the lugs 11, permitting the presser to rise to its normal posi tion but leaving the slide 33 in its original positions with the foot 36 under the folded blank-edges. The head 12 is next raised by the arms 15 and as it lifts the presser the latter comes against the finger 35 and lifts the picker slide 33. At the same time the lug 31 is carried upwardly away from the folder 20, whereupon the spring 28 depresses the stem 27, bringing the finger 30 down upon the folded blank-edge, which, it will be remembered, overlies the foot 36. The blank edge is thus gripped lightly between the picker foot and finger, and there being a like mechanism at the other end of the head 12 it will be seen that as the head is raised the folded blank is lifted by its ends and is carried upwardly with the head, thus leaving the table or bed 10 bare and ready to receive the next blank. The folded blank can be easily and quickly removed from the head at any convenient instant before or after the unfolded blank is laid on the bed.

It will be noted that the picking mechanism is extremely simple in construction and that with the parts properly proportioned it cannot fail to operate. Extended practical use of the device has thoroughly demonstrated its effectiveness. It will also be ob served that the embodiment described does not involve the use of pins or other parts which puncture the blank, as in picking devices heretofore proposed, with consequent damage to the goods. 7

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular construction herein illustrated and described but is capable of embodiment in other forms without departure from its proper spirit and scope as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a picking mechanism for blank-folding machines having a bed on which the blank to be folded is placed and a vertically movable head carrying a templet having a fold-defining edge, the combination. with the head of a picker carried by the head and arranged to underlie an edge of the blank, and means independent of the templet and arranged adjacent to the fold-defining edge of the templet to clamp the folded edge of the blank upon the picker, whereby the folded blank will be carried off the bed with the movable head.

2. In a picking mechanism for blankfolding machines having a bed on which the blank to be folded is placed, the combination of a head movable toward and from the bed, a movable folder for folding the blank-edge inwardly, a picker carried by the head and arranged to be seated on the blank near the edge thereof whereby the folder will fold the said edge over and upon the picker, and means arranged to be seated on the folded blank-edge to press the same on the picker.

3. In a blank-folding machine, the combination of a bed on which the blank to be folded is placed, a head above the bed and movable toward and from the same, a fold defining templet carried by the head an inwardly and outwardly movable folder adapted to fold an edge of the blank inwardly over an edge of the templet, and picking mechanism located adjacent to the fold-defining edge of the templet carried by the head and operating automatically to grip a folded edge of the blank when the head is moved away from the bed.

4:. In a blank-folding machine, the combination of a bed on which the blank to be folded is placed, a head movable vertically toward and from the bed, a picker carried by the head and adapted to be seated on the blank adjacent to the edge thereof, a folder movable inwardly and outwardly to fold the blank-edge inwardly and over the seated picker, and a clamping member carried by the head above the picker and normally spaced therefrom when the head is in its lowermost position, and means operating to depress the clamping member as the head rises, to cause said member to clamp the folded blank-edge upon the picker.

5. In a blank-folding machine, the combination of a bed on which the blank to be folded is placed; a head movable toward and from the bed; a fold-defining templet carried by the head, composed of sections movable to expand and contract the templet, and having a portion adapted to remain under the folded blank-edge after the templet is contracted; a folder movable inwardly and outwardly to fold the blankedge inwardly over the templet-edge; and

means carried by the head and adapted to.

picker associated with the templet and having a foot adapted to be seated on the blank inside the fold-defining edge of the templet so as to underlie the folded blank-edge; a movable clamping member carried by the head above the said picker'foot; yielding a means constantly tending to seat the clamping member on the picker foot; and means for holding the clamping member away from the picker foot until the head begins to move away from the bed.

7. In a blank-folding machine, the combination of a bed upon which the blank to be folded is placed; a templet head above the bed and movable toward and from the same; means for folding the edge of the blank; a picker carried by the head and adapted to occupy a position under the folded blank-edge; and a clamping member carried by the head and adapted to clamp the folded blank-edge upon the picker.

8. In a blank-folding machine, the combination of a bed to support the blank; a head movable toward and from the bed; a picker carried by the head and adapted to occupy a position under the folded blank edge; a clamping member carried by the head to clamp the folded blank-edge upon the picker; and means for moving the clamping member toward the picker.

9. In a picking mechanism for blank folding machines, the combination of a vertically movable head, a fold-defining templet carried by the head, a picker carried thereby and adapted to underlie the edge of the blank during the edge-folding operation, a clamping member carried by the head and adapted to cooperate with the picker to grip the folded blank-edge between them; and means to separate the clamping member from the picker.

10. In a picking mechanism for blankfolding machines, the combination of a movhaving a lug for controlling the movement able support; a picker carried thereby and of the stem and said member. 18 adapted to underlie the folded blank-edge; In testimony whereof I affix my signature a tubular guide carried by said support; in the presence of two subscribing witnesses a stern slidably mounted in the guide; a JOHN TEMPLE. spring for actuating the stern; and a mem- Witnesses:

her carried by the stem, having a finger ar- JAMES M. SNYDER,

ranged to cooperate With the picker, and GEO. P. STEWART.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents. Washington, D. C. 

